Organizational awareness for automating data protection policies with social graph integration

Abstract

Embodiments for automating backup policies applied to users in an organization by defining backup policies based on hierarchical positions of users within the organization as modified by any communication and grouping behavior of the user within the organization. A social graph generator utilizes relevant relationships revealed by active participant communications to create a greater knowledge of data usage within the enterprise to generate social graphs that quantify a type of commonality between people. The integration of social graph information in calculating a score based on hierarchical data adds organizational awareness to the process by factoring in people's communication patterns within the organization and leverages any links that are revealed by such patterns.

1 . A computer-implemented method of automating backup policy application to users in a data protection system of an organization, comprising:
 obtaining organizational hierarchy information about the users from a directory service used by the organization;   deriving a base score for each user based on a position of the user within the organization;   obtaining communication and grouping information about the user from electronic mail programs one or more communication programs used by the users;   deriving a score modifier value from the communication and grouping information, including interaction among users through one or more communication systems;   calculating a total score for each user by combining its respective base score and score modifier value;   defining a total score range to each policy of a plurality of backup policies provided by the data protection system; and   applying a respective policy to data process by the user based a match of their respective total score relative to the total score range of the respective policy.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the directory service comprises one of a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) database, or a Microsoft Active Directory database, and wherein the one or more communication programs comprise phone, message, and text based communication platforms used by the users to communicate with one another. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising determining a source of communication and an associated factor for one or more communication types of each communication program, the communication types including a number of other users communicating in a group or alone with a target user, a communication medium of the communication medium, and a length or periodicity of the communication. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising:
 assigning an initial score to each combination of source and associated factor for the target user; 
 combining the initial scores for each combination to derive a cumulative score for each link between the target user and each of the other users, the cumulative score representing a similarity value between the target user and each linked user; and 
 storing the highest cumulative score for any link. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein a greater score is assigned to one-to-one communication between the target user versus grouped users, and for a voice-based communication medium versus a text-based communication medium. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising deriving a cumulative score for each user in the organization as the target user in a hierarchical manner starting from a topmost level of an organizational chart of the organization and iteratively processing each user in each level of the chart. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising generating a social graph for each user as the target user by finding all other users connected to the target user through the one or more communication programs. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the base score is scored on an inverse scale and is derived directly from the user position in the hierarchy with top level users having no upward reporting lines assigned a lower score and middle and lower level users with multiple upward reporting lines having positive integer scores proportional to a number of reporting lines, and wherein the score modifier value modifies the base score based on the similarity value between the target user and each linked user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the similarity value is calculated by dividing the cumulative score for each link by the maximum cumulative score to obtain a similarity percentage for the link between the target user and another user, and assigning an additive factor for that similarity percentage based on percentage amount, and further comprising adding the additive factor to the base score to derive the total score, that in turn determines the applied respective policy, wherein the respective policy is one of a plurality of backup policies, and specifies a target storage location, a recovery time objective, and a recovery point objective for data backed up under the backup policy. 
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented method of automating backup policy application to users in a data protection system of an organization, comprising:
 defining a plurality of backup policies to apply to data processed by users in the organization, wherein each backup policy dictates a different performance characteristic based on storage cost and target storage type and location;   identifying a hierarchical position of a user within the organization;   determining communication and grouping behavior of the user within the organization;   using the communication behavior to generate a social graph of the user relative to other users in the organization based on communication parameters;   calculating a total score for the user based on the hierarchical position, grouping behavior, and the communication parameters; and   automatically assigning a policy of the plurality of backup policies to a data processing device operated by the user based on the total score for the user.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the hierarchical position of the user is obtained by a directory service used by the organization, and the communication and grouping behavior is derived from one or more communication programs used by the user, and includes at least one e-mail program. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the total score is derived by combining a base score with a score modifier value, wherein the base score is derived from the hierarchical position of the user in the organization. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the base score is scored on an inverse scale and is derived directly from the user position in the hierarchy with top level users having no upward reporting lines assigned a lower score and middle and lower level users with multiple upward reporting lines having positive integer scores proportional to a number of reporting lines. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the score modifier value is derived by using the communication information to derive a social graph including an individual being scored, wherein the social graph reveals links to other individuals that raise a level of importance of the individual within the organization, wherein the communication information comprises at least some of: identity of the other individuals, duration of communication between the individual and the other individuals, grouping of the other individuals, source location of the communication, and type of communication platform. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the factors comprise at least one of: a number of e-mail messages transacted in a period of time, a relative hierarchical level to the user of senders and receivers of the e-mail messages, association in one or more groups with users of a higher hierarchical level; and association with people or groups inside or outside of the organization. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the score modifier value for each factor is derived by: defining a threshold value for each factor;
 obtaining an objective value for the user for the factor from the obtained communication and grouping information for the user; and 
 comparing the obtained value with the defined threshold value for the factor. 
 
     
     
         17 . A system for automating backup policy application to users in a data protection system of an organization, comprising:
 an organization classifier component obtaining organizational hierarchy information about the users from a directory service used by the organization, deriving a base score for each user based on a position of the user within the organization, obtaining communication and grouping information about the user from one or more communication programs used by the users, deriving a score modifier value from the communication and grouping information, and calculating a total score for each user by combining its respective base score and score modifier value;   a social graph generator using the communication behavior to generate a social graph of the user relative to other users in the organization based on communication parameters; and   a backup server computer defining a plurality of backup policies to apply to data processed by users in the organization, wherein each backup policy dictates a different performance characteristic based on storage cost and target storage type and location, defining a total score range to each policy of a plurality of backup policies provided by the data protection system, and applying a respective policy to data process by the user based a match of their respective total score relative to the total score range of the respective policy.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the users each control and use at least one data processing device for the organization, and wherein the respective policy is applied to the at least one data processing device of a user, and wherein the method of  claim 1  wherein the directory service comprises one of a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) database, or a Microsoft Active Directory database, and the one or more communication programs comprise at least one of an e-mail program, a chat program, a social network platform, and an electronic bulletin board program. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the base score is scored on an inverse scale and is derived directly from the user position in the hierarchy with top level users having no upward reporting lines assigned a lower score and middle and lower level users with multiple upward reporting lines having positive integer scores proportional to a number of reporting lines, and wherein the score modifier value is derived by taking into account at least one of a plurality of factors defining communication and grouping activities of a user. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  wherein the factors comprise at least one of: a number of e-mail messages transacted in a period of time, a relative hierarchical level to the user of senders and receivers of the e-mail messages, association in one or more groups with users of a higher hierarchical level; and association with people or groups inside or outside of the organization, and wherein the score modifier value for each factor is derived by using the communication information to derive a social graph including an individual being scored, wherein the social graph reveals links to other individuals that raise a level of importance of the individual within the organization, wherein the communication information comprises at least some of: identity of the other individuals, duration of communication between the individual and the other individuals, grouping of the other individuals, source location of the communication, and type of communication platform.